Former refugee contractor CEO: America needs refugees to teach us how to love one another

10/31/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Stephen Bauman, a former CEO of World Relief, one of nine federal resettlement contractors*** (paid by the head to place refugees in towns that are kept in the dark about the resettlement process) was speaking to an interfaith gathering in North Carolina recently when he said some annoying things.

Bauman justice conf — We love refugees, but regular ol’ Americans obviously not so much!

The one that really got me is the one about needing refugees to teach us how to love.

What the heck, what’s wrong with loving the neighbors in your own town, the low income Americans of all colors who are suffering. In fact the first question I get when someone first learns about refugee resettlement is:

We have our own poor people why aren’t we taking care of them first?

Here is the story from Baptist News Global:

America needs refugees as much as refugees need places like America, says Stephan Bauman, former president and CEO of World Relief, which has helped to resettle thousands of desperate wanderers.

Bauman addressed refugees and volunteers who have helped to make them at home during a “refugee welcome” event attended by more than 350 at Knollwood Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., Oct. 21. [Can we conclude that Winston-Salem has no American poor people remaining, that these good Baptists have taken care of them all?—ed]

In the past two years, Knollwood has helped to settle four refugee families — three of them in partnership with Temple Emanuel, a Jewish community in the city. Their resettled families have been Muslim.

[….]

Diane-Lipsett-feature-image — Baptist minister Lipsett

While other such relationship building events are not unique, organizer Diane Lipsett said this event paid special attention to why helping refugees “matters to our faith.” She led panel discussions with volunteers from three faiths, and had the entire discussion translated into both Arabic and Swahili so refugees primarily from Syria and the Congo would be fully integrated.

Bauman, who this year became executive director of Cornerstone Trust, a grant management firm in Grand Rapids, Mich., said America needs refugees “so we can love one another, because we don’t naturally love each other.” The common task of service for others induces us to drop our regard for differences.

Resettling refugees, sometimes those from countries not friendly to the United States, shows us “how to love our enemies,” Bauman said.

[….]

For Bob Schwartz, it is the Jewish tradition of “Tikkun olam,” the mandate to repair the world, “to make the world a better place.”

What! It isn’t sufficient to love those around you and repair your own neighborhood? And, why isn’t Bauman still heading World Relief (National Association of Evangelicals) if resettling refugees is such a wonderful thing?

Continue reading here. This article is better than a cup of coffee to wake you up!

Feel the love!

All this phony-baloney love-talk reminds me how much Bauman and World Relief don’t love you—people who ask questions and want to know how the refugee program is working in your home towns (what it costs and the potential cultural/social upheaval that could follow)!

In 2015 I traveled to Minnesota and was interviewed on a local radio station. (BTW, World Relief was one of three federal contractors originally responsible for the placement of Somali refugees in the state).

I told listeners that they needed to get a copy of the R & P (Reception & Placement) Abstract, that is the plan each contractor operating in a city prepares for the federal government. It tells how many refugees the contractor wants to bring and what amenities your town/city has to offer the refugees. (See the recent one from St. Cloud here).

Not only should this document be available to you after it is prepared, but frankly taxpaying citizens should see it and be able to comment on its drafting. For most areas of the country this document is still SECRET! (Feel the love!)

And, shame on any mayor and council that is not even aware there is such a planning document!

So if Bauman loved YOU, why would he have been running such a secretive program?

Or, is his love limited to only those who agree with him politically (and for the “strangers” he places in your towns)?

See below in this internal memo sent from World Relief headquarters (while Bauman was still CEO) to their subcontractors (they call them affiliates) around the country and shared with me.

Feel the love!

(I’ve removed the names of recipients and highlighted the portions of most interest to me.)

Screenshot (1030) — Stand for the foreign-born vulnerable should be their motto!

From: Casey Leyva
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2015 5:07 PM
Subject: Potential Anti-Refugee Contacts

Dear Office Directors,

We’ve heard recently from other members of RCUSA (Refugee Council USA) that local affiliates have been contacted by individuals questioning the U.S. refugee program. This is a result of an interview Ann Corcoran, a blogger who runs Refugee Resettlement Watch, with a local news station in Minnesota. She has told her followers to to ask you for your R&P abstract – please do not send it. And please let us know if you are contacted.

Finally, please don’t go searching for this woman’s blog. I give you her information so you know if and when someone calls that this is the same topic. Here are Scott’s tips on interacting with these types of blogs:

Here is an important remember of how blog analytics work. Remember that what feeds the beast essentially are clicks. Ever hear the term “click-bait”? Seeing something in your Facebook feed that says “Velociraptor eats Skittles and your mind will be blown at what happens next!”, would be a dramatized example of that. In other words, while we all don’t really like anything this blogger has to say, every time we share the link, she gets a click. Bloggers have some very useful tools. They are able to tell when people read articles, what they are interested in, and what they search for on the blog. The more times this article is shared, the more the blogger will think they are onto something here and post more about it. Just as a news organization may hammer on a specific story, not because it is a great story, but because it builds up ratings and viewership. What can be done about this?

The best thing I recommend is if a blog such as this is posted by ForRefugees (Chris C.) or Refugee Resettlement Watch (Ann C.) and we believe it is worth sharing for FYI, that the person who locates it simply copy and paste the text from the blog into the e-mail. This will ensure that the clicks are limited. It will get 1 or 2 clicks from WR, versus 20 clicks. Those add up.

Casey Leyva
R&P Program Manager

7 E. Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
T 443.451.1916
E cleyva@wr.org
www.worldrelief.org

Fascinating isn’t it how hard they tried to keep my posts from being widely read. And, I love it that they didn’t want any conflicting information reaching the sensitive ears of their staffers.

The Refugee Council USA mentioned in the first paragraph is the lobbying arm of the refugee industry and we have mentioned them many times here. Most recently they (including World Relief) were involved in joining CAIR to march at the #NoMuslimBanEver rally against the President here.

***These are the nine federal refugee contractors that are responsible for placing all refugees in your towns. These nine get the refugee cases from the US State Department and distribute them to over 300 subcontractors operating in your towns. They all keep the R & P Abstracts under wraps because they don’t want you to know their plans.

Tennessee: World Relief accused of not taking care of their refugees

06/14/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When refugees were initially being placed in the county where I live (now more than 10 years ago), our community’s first impression was that the ‘Christian’ resettlement agency—the Virginia Council of Churches—was basically dropping off a couple hundred refugees, placing them in deplorable housing, and then not providing them with some of their basic needs.
I wanted to know what sort of program was this. Did the government allow this? But, of course as we know now, nine major federal resettlement contractors (including World Relief)*** are federal government contractors who oversee a network of over 300 subcontractors. The nine sign agreements with the US State Department laying out what services they will provide refugees in their care. Indeed the contractor is paid by the head for each refugee it is assigned.
Over the years, we have reported on many cases like this one being made in Tennessee that the contractor is not fulfilling its end of the bargain.
From The Tennessee Star:

During the March “Murfreesboro Muslim Youth” (MMY) meeting soliciting help for refugees brought to Rutherford County by federal resettlement contractor World Relief, it was disclosed that goods and services that the government paid for were not provided to the new refugees.

Abdou Kattih has been an outspoken critic of efforts by the legislature to keep Shariah law out of TN and to rein-in the refugee industry in the state. http://www.dnj.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/20/legislative-proposals-prompt-muslim-community-efforts/78809062/

According to Abdou Kattih, founder and president of MMY, were it not for his organization, special emergency needs such as getting medical care for the refugee who arrived with a broken jaw or simply providing household essentials and even clothing, would not have been addressed, explaining they had taken care of “someone that does not have literally anything but the clothes they had off of last month.”

Melissa Sohrabi, who merged her group “Roots for Refugees” with MMY, was more direct in detailing the deficiencies of the government contractor in this talk she delivered in March:

“There is an expectation of what should happen and there’s reality of what really does happen. . . Why didn’t World Relief give them a table and chairs? Why didn’t they bring them a couch? What’s going on? . . . Not only did it not happen but if it did happen, those families are charged for every belonging, every item that is donated to World Relief, the family is then charged for, for having it delivered to them.”

World Relief (WR), based in Baltimore, is one of nine national refugee resettlement organizations that sign a “Cooperative Agreement” with the U.S. State Department to receive federal funding to resettle refugees. This is taxpayer money allocated for each refugee brought to a community; the funds are split between the refugee and the agency. In addition, the resettlement agency is required to provide the goods and services as detailed in the signed agreement.

Between fiscal years 2016 -17, WR was paid over $40 million by the federal government to resettle refugees in communities where they operate local offices which also receive federal funding through grants administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Continue reading here.
One of several things that came to mind when I read this, is something I have been wondering about for some time. Five of the nine resettlement contractors are ‘Christian charities’, one is Jewish and three are secular.
They all eagerly resettle Muslim refugees, but I have wondered when will some Muslim charity demand to get in on the federal gravy train? Laying the groundwork in this story?
***Here are the nine federal contractors that monopolize the US Refugee Admissions Program:

World Relief building a "new community" in Durham, NC, was there anything wrong with the old one?

03/26/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Changing America by changing the people!

This story at WRAL.com is meant to be one of those warm and fuzzy stories about ‘welcoming’ refugees (and diversity) to a southern city and how mean old Donald Trump has slowed their progress in changing Durham.
The last line of the story by reporter Tess Allen is the most instructive:

A new community is being built in Durham, one that is constantly evolving, one with a mix of faces, languages and cultures. And World Relief Durham and its volunteers plan to be there every step of the way.

Turning red states blue by seeding diversity. Map showing where all of North Carolina’s refugees came from in 2016. Story here: https://www.carolinajournal.com/news-article/diverse-crowd-gathers-in-durham-to-protest-federal-immigration-policies/

Here are a few bits worth highlighting:

World Relief depends on federal funding for the majority of their financing. They receive a per capita grant dependent on the number of refugees coming into their area. That money helps support the agencies’ offices, staff and, mostly, the refugees themselves.

See what else Soerens said here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2017/02/17/panic-button-as-refugee-contracting-agencies-begin-to-downsize-as-they-lose-federal/

With the dramatic decrease in refugee arrivals that would accompany the reinstatement of this order, World Relief’s funding will drop equally dramatically. The Durham office, for example, will lose one-fourth of its federal funding, or about $250,000 a year. Nationwide, five World Relief offices will close and 140 staff members will be laid off.

[….]

Soerens [Matthew Soerens, World Relief’s U.S. director of church mobilization] also said that the loss of funding is why it’s increasingly important for their Good Neighbor teams to help refugees find jobs. World Relief can no longer afford to cover rent for families for more than a couple of months.

Wasn’t finding refugees a job a top priority all along? Or, it didn’t matter so much when they were flush with federal dollars.
Is Soerens saying that, because they (at World Relief) need to pay their staffs and keep offices open, they are going to be stingy about refugee rent going forward? Sounds like it to me.
If you feel like reading all the good news about good neighbors, continue reading here.
For our complete archive on changing North Carolina, go here. See especially my post on the 2016 Presidential election.
For more on World Relief’s finances, go here.

Tucker to World Relief Prez: How can you claim it is Christian charity when you take millions from taxpayers?

02/24/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Tucker Carlson once again interviews one of the bigwigs in the refugee industry—the President of World Relief, Scott Arbeiter—that recently announced it would close some offices around the country as their federal funding begins to dry up.
Here is another of many posts we have on World Relief (Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals).
No time to say more, see Carlson here ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lfCv0eQX6c ) and below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P4vxUsoxxo

See our Carlson archive here. And our complete World Relief archive is here.
BTW, Arbeiter claims they are only doing what the government asks them to do. Then why bitch when the government (under Trump) tells them it is time to stop (or slow) what they have been doing for almost 40 years?
These federal resettlement contractors have to go, I have ideas on how to run a small refugee program without them!

Nonprofit Quarterly: Entire System of Refugee Resettlement Nonprofits Teeters on the Edge

02/22/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

“The question is: Is this just 2017, or is this business as usual going forward”

(Anya Abramzon)

Our title is the headline of a story at a publication for non-profits. Another headline is: Nonprofits, Your Sole Goal in 2017: Pick a Fight with Trump!

And, this one: Your Nonprofit’s Role in Reframing the Post-Election Discourse!
Remember this is the rarefied club that many tea party groups were unable to join when the Obama IRS blocked many 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 applications for conservative-leaning groups a few years ago.

Maybe the Trump Administration should start to look in to the whole non-profit system in America and ask this question:

Are federal funds being used to fuel Leftwing political action?

I’m sorry to have to continue to repeat some key points, but the article entitled, ‘Entire System of Refugee Resettlement Nonprofits Teeters on the Edge,’ contains some points we need to continue to make.
Non-profit Quarterly:

The United States was slated to receive 110,000 refugees in fiscal year 2017, so this cuts that flow in half. So far, it has taken in in 32,954 since October 1, 2016, which means that just over 17,000 additional refugees will be allowed into the U.S. through the end of September. A four-month hiatus on accepting new refugees is now in place.

As I explained in some detail here, that 110,000 was a hoped-for number from Obama in the final months of his presidency for a year he would not be in the White House. 110,000 is much higher than anything he accomplished during his previous 8 years.
And, as I pointed out here, Trump’s 50,000 is not that low when one examines post-9/11 refugee admissions.

Anya Abramzon, Director, Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, Michigan http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/executive-profile-anya-abramzon-executive-director-jewish-family-services-of-washtenaw-county/

This morning we are at 36,461. Four days ago we had admitted 36,205, so the slowdown has begun.

Ponzi scheme revealed.

One important thing all of this turmoil in the refugee industry reveals is that the whole program is built on a kind of Ponzi scheme that requires a continuous flow of paying clients (refugees!) to keep the system afloat.
Non-profit Quarterly continues….

This is one part of Trump’s trio of executive orders on immigrants and refugees that was not stayed. It has shut down the pipeline for refugees and the $2,000 that is paid to refugee resettlement groups to help each individual, and that makes sustainability for these critical agencies pretty difficult. [LOL! I like the use of the word ‘pipeline’ by this publication!—ed]

This, of course, should create concern, because once those elements of infrastructure are gone, rebuilding them and their local relationships will create untold additional cost and delays. “It will impact all nine resettlement agencies, so the infrastructure for refugee resettlement in our country—built over decades, at least since the Refugee Act of 1980—could be decimated,” Matthew Soerens of World Relief said.

While some of the networks are launching fundraising campaigns to try to maintain their services, raising enough to replace federal dollars may be a real long shot, even for a system at relative rest. For instance, in 2015, approximately $42 million of World Relief’s $62 million budget was federal grants. [If they can’t raise private money to stay afloat it means that the general public does not support what they are doing!—ed]

In many cases, the agencies may be national, but their offices are local. These local satellites*** do the real work of helping refugees gather necessary documentation and assisting them in finding housing, job training, and public benefits. But all in the system recognize the system as a public-private partnership, and when the federal government shuts down their pipeline, the whole system freezes, creating a very serious situation.

This so-called public-private partnership has become a largely publicly-funded program as the resettlement contractors, like World Relief, have come to depend mostly on their taxpayer-funded payments and were doing little over the years to raise private funding.

As Abramzon asks, “The question is: Is this just 2017, or is this business as usual going forward? I think it’s important for all of us to know that.” Unfortunately, by the time that question is answered, it may be moot for some of the agencies involved.

Continue reading here.
To answer Ms. Abramzon’s question (how far forward is this slowdown going?), it is imperative that Congress get involved and reform this entire system. EOs are only good for a president’s term in office (as Obama has learned the hard way). It is past time for Congress to stop being lazy (and chicken!) and reform the system!
Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County is a sub-contractor of HIAS which has filed suit against the Trump Administration for cutting off its federal money supply. See here.
***For new readers: Since some of you are new readers arriving here in great numbers daily, it requires me to continuously repeat that there are nine major federally-funded refugee resettlement contractors. When you see one like this, Jewish Family Services in Michigan, and wonder who they work for, go to one of the nine VOLAGs website and look for ‘affiliates’ or ‘partners,’ or visit this data base and look for your state. You will see abbreviations for the BIG NINE in the lefthand corner of the entry.
And, while I’m at it, explaining basics to new readers, you might want to visit my Frequently Asked Questions, here.
BIG NINE VOLAGs crying for (your) money!